…with frequent whatnot

Main menu

Post navigation

Break

I won’t be writing much for a while; need to take care of more important things. I hope to come back to it at some point, if I feel there’s something worth saying, but we’ll see. I’ll leave the old stuff up though, at least for now.

Thanks to the readers who’ve added to the site with their typically very good comments, especially Matt, Harold, Clem and Dave. I don’t have a lot of commenters, but the ones I do have have been great–and I would not have it any other way.
Jim

Note: Just after writing this post, I’d decided to inactivate the blog, and the only way to do that without deleting it, is to make it private, requiring a password. Somehow, right at that time there came an inexplicable flood of views of my posts related to both tree rings and ebola spread–far more than is normal. This stuff is months to years old now, but whatever. So I’m leaving all posts visible. Furthermore, there are probably some pretty important things I still need to express in writing, but we’ll see what time and energy allows on that.

Thanks Clem. Yeah Harold owes me one for the way the Bruins demolished the Wings this spring. 🙂 However, I fear that the Almighty him, her or itself, could not salvage what the Tiger bullpen is capable of mangling.

“maybe Harold will pull for the Tigers now…”
It’s funny, I approached the playoffs without any real favorites / dis-favorites (is that a word? I mean a team like the Yankees which I would want to lose). As I watched, I found I was generally rooting for the historically-less-successful teams – must be some kind of subconscious “underdog” appeal.
So far:
ALWC: favored Oakland (from “Moneyball”, perhaps, or all the Red Sox alumni) — nope
NLWC: favored Pittsburgh — nope
ALDS: Balt — yes (sorry Clem)
ALDS: KC — yes
NLDS: Wash – nope
NLDS: StL — yes
Which makes me a perfect 50%.

At this point, hoping for KC-StL World Series. KC should have Don Denkinger throw out the first ball.

When the Tigers went down in flames, as even I predicted they would (you CANNOT win in the playoffs without a bullpen Dave Dombrowski), I actually enjoyed the fact that we have entirely new blood in the ALCS, and two franchises with some real nice history no less, and both worthy. The Tigers had their opportunities; time for a change. And I love the style of the Royals, being the “small ball” proponent that I am, and I think Showalter might be the best skipper in the game. So it’s all good in the AL.

In the NL, I’ve had enough of the Giants and Cardinals (Sorry Clem!!) although I much respect both. But they’ll put on a good series I’m pretty sure. I think the Giants and Royals would be a super-entertaining WS.

To be clear, it wasn’t that I picked the Royals to beat the Angels, just that I was rooting for them. As you say, new blood and an exciting brand of small-ball. [I seem to recall that when Scioscia was new at the Angels, they were also of this character. I don’t think of them in that way any more. I suppose it’s natural that as you rely more on highly-paid sluggers, it makes less sense to take risks to “manufacture” runs.]

Especially after last year’s Red Sox-Tiger series, the Detroit bullpen meltdown must have been tough for fans to see. Unless the starter can go 9 — which seems less and less common each year — you need at least one reliable arm in the bullpen. Preferably two, or even three. In the regular season, an extra starter may be worthwhile, but in the playoffs the bullpen has greater leverage.

It was nice to see a couple of the lower-paid teams get into the playoffs (as shown here, although the numbers may be a little out of date). Unfortunately, those were the two wild-card losers.

Harold – Yes! Deckinger throwing out the first ball would be a great idea if it does turn into a Hwy 70 series. And the first game would be in KC…

Jim – no worries, I have a thick enough skin for this. Now that it is St Louis vs San Francisco it has to break the tie between the two for number of WS appearances (both are now tied for second behind the Yankees at 19 appearances in the Fall Classic).

Well, that is sad. It was always nice to come to a blog with interesting and often humorous posts and none of the invective that often infects others with a climate interest. On the other hand, my two blogs have been more or less moribund the last year and sometimes you do just have to take care of more important things. Take care.